Nassau, Bahamas

On our 3rd and final day we went to Nassau- the capital of the Bahamas.  This may have been my favorite stop because we got to snorkel twice, and I got some awesome shells! And there was really fun shopping. We were one of the first ones off the boat at 7 am so we could find a local to take us snorkeling.

YEAY!

I think cruise ships are amazing! They are magnificent works of art!

First thing when we got off the boat we started looking for a snorkeling tour.  We looked everywhere for a local to take us.  We called a bunch of places we had found phone numbers for beforehand.  We got really frustrated and started to get nervous we wouldn't be able to find someone.  I went back to where we got off the cruise ship- and found someone with a booth.  I haggled him down from $40 per person to $30 each.  Like I said before- we like to go with locals to support them and get away from the crowds.  Plus Darren refuses to wear a life vest that some business will make you wear.  Anyways, we got a snorkeling tour at 9 am. We met at the appointed place- and low and behold- it was the Carnival Cruise ship's snorkeling tour!  Ughh! oh well.  The good thing is we paid $30 instead of the $69 that everyone else paid. LOL.  It was a fun boat with 2 levels, they played fun music and the local tour guides were great.  We ended up having a really fun time.

Atlantis in the background.  I heard they have awesome aquariums, but seriously, why would you want to go stand outside some glass and look into an aquarium, when you can go snorkeling and be swimming right in one! 

How'd you like to live there?

Wow.

So we rode about 30 min out to sea. The ocean was pretty choppy so we weren't expecting great snorkeling.  The boat had to go to a different spot than planned. But guess what? It was pretty dang good snorkeling!  The water was amazingly clear- even though it was rough! And the best part? I got some cool shells! I'll have to post some pictures of them after I unpack them.

It was about 7-10 feet deep and so clear! I really liked it.

It's hard to see in the picture- but that was a really cool Cowfish.

Cool purple and orange coral

Isn't that coral amazing?!!

See how far you can see?! That is amazing clarity!

Check out this amazing Antler Coral!

Cool right!?

There was a whole grouping of it was swam around if for a while.

Gorgeous!

Cool blue fish with big huge eyes!

Look at all those fish hanging out!

Snorkeling Selfie!

This landscape was a little boring- till I found my shells. The guys on the boat said we could take any non living shells. I found a cool conch, king conch, and really cool banded tulip.

Ok, are you getting sick of snorkeling pictures? Sorry, It's one of those things when you are there it's so pretty you take a million pictures.
So when it was time to get back on the boat I noticed a large metal box under the boat. Pretty much looked like it could very easily be full of treasure. I showed Darren, but he didn't care, another snorkeler saw it and we swam down and I tried to open it.   I couldn't.  By this time I was convinced I had just found a treasure chest.  I got on the boat and told one of our guides- "Hey, there is a big metal box down there. Let me take a rope and wrap it around it and lets haul it up!"  He said, "No, it's too heavy- I'll come back later and get it."  What??!! I wasn't going to let this guy take my treasure chest! I was like, "Come one! Let me go get it! It could be full of gold!"  he was like, "No, no, no- I'll come back later, It would take too long to get it now." I asked another boat hand- "Hey do you know anything about that metal box down there?"  he said, "yea, people have tried to get it, but can't"  Then I took it straight to the captain.  I went up to him and told him the situation- "listen there is a big metal box right under this boat that could be full of gold! Let my husband swim a rope under it and we can pull it up!" He said, "Oh yeah, we have tried to get that thing up, but can't! It's too heavy! We have tried tying it to two boats, but I think the gold is just to heavy!"  By this time I was sure it was full of gold! "Yea, that proves it's full of gold!  Gold is really heavy! We need to get an underwater welder to come weld it open!! Let's go back to shore- I'll find someone- you bring us all back, and we can split the treasure! Seriously, an underwater welder is the way to go!"  The whole time Darren was like- "Babe, they are pulling your leg! It doesn't have gold in it!"  The Captian was like- "Ok, we are coming back for it- you  wanna come back and try and get it with us?" He didn't have to ask twice! I was like, "YES!" Darren said, "Emily, listen, you think they are serious? If that was full of gold they would dump us all off the boat and get it themselves."  I thought about it a moment.  Then I started to noticed all the boat hands were laughing and I started to figure they were all just getting a kick out me. I was like, "You guys are pulling my leg!" And they started laughing more- so I figured it wasn't full of gold.  They said they really have tried getting it up- but it's too heavy, so they think it is full of cement and it was used as an anchor or something.  But who knows.  I still think it's full of gold and an underwater welder is a great idea.  I'm going to go back there some day and get rich! Then they won't be laughing at me anymore! The good thing is, that the captain got such a kick out of me he invited us back for the 1 o'clock snorkeling tour for free! So we headed back for land for lunch.

On the way back we drove through a CRAZY rain storm! It was there one minute- and gone the next.

Nassau wasn't the prettiest towns.  It was kind of industrial, and they burn their garbage dump- so there was a huge plume of black smoke coming up all day long.

A common sight. One guy asked me for my leftover lunch- heck ya!

I thought this boat just laying there was cool. Maybe I'll paint it someday.

We walked to a really cool part of town with colorful buildings and fun places to eat.  We got something to go- then took a taxi back to the boat for our free 1 o'clock snorkeling tour!

We had fish for lunch- it was delicious!

Heading back out for snorkeling again! The water was a lot calmer, so we went to a different spot.  I never saw the treasure box again:(

Angelfish

I didn't think the 2nd spot was as good as the first.  I spent the whole time looking for shells, and found a couple cool ones- but nothing as big as from the other spot. Darren snorkeled in a little deeper water and said it was awesome where he was.  We were the only ones in the water for the last 10 min. cause everyone else got cold. Or they just wanted to start drinking.  Which is what the boat turned into on the way back.  A big party boat.  Oh boy.

By the end of the day there were 4 big cruise ships in port.  After we got back we had about 1 1/2 hours to shop.  People told us to go to Bay Street for tax free, duty free shopping- we started to walk down it, but it was all American stores!  There was a Saks Fith Ave, Senior Frogs, Starbucks, etc.We might have well been in America! So we quickly left that street and headed to the Straw Market. Now that's what I want when I go to the Bahamas.  Fun, handmade, quirky items you can't really get in America.  The bartering was fun and I felt like I got to see the culture a little bit.

I bought an amazing starfish and some really big shells from a guy on the beach for great prices.  Sadly, it was time to go back to the boat.  I could have spent a couple more days there.  

A lot of people on the cruise ship spent their day and their money going on a tour of Atlantis.  You can swim with dolphins and such- but if you've ever seen "The Cove" that's out of the question.  While Atlantis looks really cool- it's just a huge hotel and aquarium- if we went we would feel like we spent the whole day at a cool hotel in America.  When I go to another country I want to FEEL like I'm in another country.  Don't you agree?!

Good bye Nassau!  Goodbye gold! Thanks for the amazing day!